Orange and Teal

Time to Bring in Harrington?

So, says Greg Stoda of The Palm Beach Post. I still am not a fan of Stoda but he’s got a point. Culpepper is clearly nto ready to start and that’s why we got Harrington in the first place. Take that detour Dolphins. Start Joey Sunday against  Houston.

The Post is also reporting we’re on pace to break the season sacks allowed record. That’s grrrrreat!

Oh and in tasteless news of the day from the NFL: The Arizona Cardinals stadium will now be named University of Phoenix Stadium. Wonder what Deadspin will make of that... 

Any Win Is a Good Win?

That’s the saying isn’t it? Any win is a good win. I don’t know if the team feels that way this morning after Kerry Collins and the lowly Titans looked like playoff contenders compared o the Dolphins. Culpepper looked flat, again. Luckily is his late game work actually paid off this time. Just like last week it will allow him to keep his job for another game.

I’m trying to pick out good things from the game yesterday but nothing really comes to mind. The running game was average. The passing game, well you know. The defense allowed way too many yards and I think I even caught Zach Thomas half-assing it on one play. That is a sight I’ve never seen before.

This defense is just too old up front to be on the field so long. The offense, as always, needs to step it up. The Jets and Bills are both looking better than the team some stupid magazine picked to go to the Super Bowl. That’s just not right. At least New England also looked pathetic last night. Perhaps it is a division we can still win. That would require both a miracle and a different team to show up next week.

Other NFL News: I’m not a big fan of Chris Sims but let’s hope he makes a recovery. I can’t remember an injury so severe in the past few years. He seems like one tough kid and let’s hope his career is not over. 

New Place, Dave’s Media Report

OK guys, I’ll do a full install report later, but so far everything I’m waiting to get installed in the new place is ordered or in already. Check it out here.

Game 2: We Still Look Like Crap

I don't know how many of you had to endure the game in public, but I was at a sports bar in suburban Chicago with every other game on an array of flat screens and besides the Raiders being pummeled again, and Houston being thrashed by the Colts, the Dolphins were the sorriest team on the air. Actually, Houston looked better. They were playing the Colts after all.

Now, I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but when do we start asking to see Joey Harrington? I mean it's not like Culpepper didn't have time, and in replays when he was sacked it looked like he had a man open. So, they weren't all (how many were there? 7?) coverage sacks or incompletions. If Fiedler in his prime had that much time in the pocket he would have made more plays. In fact, I bet he did.

There's no question the Defense did its job for the most part. They were on the field way too long as always. Ronnie Brown had moments of brilliance but they went away from him when the lead got too big. Then that last drive. That might mean Culpepper saved his starting spot. Does any of this seem too familiar to anyone else?

Argh. 0-2. This is not the season I was envisioning. At least we have Tennessee and Houston next, but at this rate I don't know if those are sure things anymore.

Best thing I heard all day...

It's game day eve and the best thing I heard all day (besides that our new home will be finished on time) is that Travis Daniels may play tomorrow. We need him. Dan Wilkinson being out could hurt but we have more strength at that position than almost any other on the team.

In non-Dolphin related news like I said earlier we visited our new place today under construction and it's almost done. We were shocked actually and can't wait for the move. For OAT readers there will be a 42 inch plasma HDTV in the living room, but that's it. I'm installing speakers in the ceiling and all the other equipment will be hidden. It should be cool. We're doing the whole wireless music too. I'll post some photos when it's all set up.

Also, I'm testing a BMW M4 Coupe for my "real job" at Cars.com.  If you can afford one of these go get one. It's one of the most amazing cars I've tested.

What has me worried this week...

There are many things that have me worried this week: a quarterback that looked like a second-tier talent, a running game that was stuffed or the secondary. Ah, the secondary. Travis Daniels is still hurt. This is at least five weeks with a sprained ankle? Is that right? A sprain? I can't remember a sprain ever being this lingering before but Saban says Daniels is working out seven hours (at least on Tuesday) a day. Weird. Right now Daniels is the key to the whole secondary. I don't think Carlos Rogers will make as big an impact as another veteran player in the secondary would.

I'm just happy Will Allen has proven to be better than the Giants thought.

Also FYI my fantasy team the Sabanites took their first loss in week one. Mostly because of me playing Cadillac Williams over Ronnie Brown (I know!) but no production from Roy Williams and Randy Moss took a toll.

Network Coverage

Sunday was bittersweet. It sucked knowing there would be no chance of a Dolphins win Sunday or Monday yet I watched just the same. On the menu in our region was the Chiefs/Bengals game and that horrible hit on Trent Green. Also Seahawks/Lions. I watched the Chiefs game. Bears/Packers was later, yawn.

But before the games I checked out the new pre-game set-ups from Fox and CBS. CBS’s graphics and overlays on HD looked awesome. James Brown added an upbeat temp to CBS’s trio of analysts that are often too professional and dry. Yes, that includes Dan. But add in the crisp graphics and seamless transitions I gave CBS an A-.

Fox sucked. I never liked their analysts to begin with and Joe Buck can not wrangle them well. Broadcasting live from game sites, a la ESPN’s College GameDay, was lame as the Jacksonville fans didn’t look like they knew they would be on a national telecast. Then there were the transitions. Buck threw to a telecaster in each city and every time they were not prepared or didn’t start on time. They also offered lame “Fantasy Pick of the Week” selections. Who cares what a B class announcer thinks of fantasy football. And unlike CBS, Fox has not upgraded their graphics and overlays and on HD they looked flat and lifeless. I gave Fox a solid D-.

NBC’s “Football Night in America” was surprisingly good. Costas is such a pro that I don’t even mind Collinsworth and King on the team. Instead of throwing to the announcers they actually had reporters in every city interviewing the biggest stars of each game in quick 30 second snippets. This was terrific. And their graphics and overlays were also topnotch in HD. Sunday Night Football was a bit better than ABC’s old "Monday Night," but boy do I miss Hank Williams’ lead-in. Pink just doesn’t do it for me here (and usually she does). The song seriously downgrades the night. Sorry. I gave NBC a grade of B+.

Game 1, Half 2

Ugh. How bad did Culpepper look in the second half? It looked like his last few starts for the Vikings in 2005. But let’s say this first. If it hadn’t been for those two penalties when the Steelers we’re backed into their own end zone we would have won the game.

That’s that. The red flag later on wouldn’t have meant anything. Our defense has holes, HUGE HOLES, in the secondary. And our QB doesn’t look much better than Gus Frerotte. How am I going to sleep tonight?

Final score: Steelers 28, Dolphins 17

Game 1, Half 1

Four words. Welker Good. Goodman Bad. That’s the first half in a nutshell. We’re holding Parker to decent yards besides one big run which didn’t kill us. But Goodman’s blown coverages have accounted for almost every major gain or score for Pittsburgh. This is why I said draft a cornerback over a safety way back in April.

Welker is just doing everything. It’s like our version of “Invincible” out there. All in all I think going into the half 14-10 is as good as I could’ve hoped although the defense being out so long and then getting tired or blowing one big play is all too familiar.

Culpepper looks good but early on, on third downs he was blowing the easy passes. That showed off that the O-line looks good in pass coverage. Did I just say that? And Pittsburgh is no slouch on defense. Well, we’ll see what happens in the next 30.

NFL Morning

It’s here. Did anyone else out there get a warm, tingly feeling this morning when they opened up their newspaper (or logged on to the Internet) and saw football was on tonight? The only thing I can equate it to is Christmas morning as a kid and the reason I’m feeling it most likely because the Dolphins will take the field a few days early this year. Finally a reason to watch the stupid Thursday kick-off programming.

My prediction will be a close game. Mare might be the star of the night that no one is talking about. I’m also wavering between live-blogging as I watch or watching in a non-blogging room that has the HDTV flat screen…maybe a bit of both. So tune back in tonight, especially at halftime.